Status: Probably a hoax
The latest mystery to capture the short attention span of the internet is
ThatGirlEmily. It's a blog, supposedly written by "Emily" who during the past two weeks has discovered that her husband "Steven" is cheating on her. Coincidentally she started her blog just before all these interesting things in her life began occuring. Yesterday she decided to get even with Steven by placing a
large billboard near where he works with this message on it:
Hi Steven,
Do I have your attention now? I know all about her, you dirty, sneaky, immoral, unfaithful, poorly-endowed slimeball. Everything's caught on tape,
Your (soon-to-be-ex) Wife, Emily
p.s. I paid for this billboard from OUR joint bank account.
Emily's blog and billboard, as almost everyone who has posted about it agrees, just screams viral marketing.
AtleastIhavechicken.com has summarized some of the reasons why it's probably a viral marketing campaign:
1) Emily has gone to some effort to conceal her identity;
2) Her blog is too well written (grammatically speaking) and the story unfolds a little too neatly to be real;
3) Since she started her blog, someone using the username ThatGirlEmily has been comment spamming numerous message boards. See
here, and
here, and
here.
4) In addition to the billboard in New York (which seems to be real), an identical billboard has also been
spotted in LA. The dual billboards, in my opinion, is the real clincher, because why would Emily, if she were real, pay for billboards in different cities?
I don't know who's the mastermind behind ThatGirlEmily, but here are the leading theories:
1) It's a viral created by an
outdoor billboard company, to demonstrate the effectiveness of billboard advertising. (kind of like the Outhouse Springs campaign.)
2) Or it's a viral for a Court TV show. Possibly
Parco P.I. (this is
Gawker's favorite theory.)
Emily vows 14 days of vengeance. So I'm sure we'll eventually know the real story behind this.
Comments
Actually Laura kinda looks like one of my teachers from when I was at high school...
I agree that a publicity stunt (or "viral marketing" to use the trendy term) by a billboard company or other advertising outfit is the most likely source.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7714643693602998196
The real question is, if it really is an advertisement, what company would allow thier blog writer to use such vulgar, obscene language?
Are women genetically incapable of having affairs? or does it not count?
Just a query for the audience.
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/viral__but_not_infectious_entertainment_mandy_stadtmiller.htm
"Also, if you think someone is cheating on you, I definitely recommend the private investigator my brother used, Vinny Parco from Intercontinental Investigations. He
Satisfied in New York City.
I Love Vinny Parco!!!!
He is amazing!!!!!! he helped me alot and I owe him my life. God bless you Vinny!
Call me a paranoid lunatic with a great ass, but this has a strong odour of the rodent about it; We may have opened a door to a new kind of self-advertising.
One of Emily's links is to "loveenarajalaxshmy". If one goes to that page, one of the updates discusses the adulterous husband and encourages her to remain strong.
That update was written on July 10, two days before Emily talks to the PI and finds out about the cheating husband. Oops.
here is the billboard on an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BUILDING
http://imagechan.com/img/3365/steve/
billboard2
i know its an imagechan link.. but i swear i'm not rickrolling anyone, i was just surfing and i came across it and remember seeing it before, and i remembered it not being so blurry or from that angle..
so there's your proof its some kinda viral marketing